Category: Features - Page 175 - International Solidarity Movement

Eight arrested in al-Walaja as Israel ramps up construction on the Separation Wall

22 December 2010 | Popular Struggle Coordination Committee

Please join the people of Al-Walaja for their weekly demonstration this Friday morning: December 24, 2010 at 9 a.m.

A resident of al-Walaja is attacked with pepper spray for confronting Israeli bulldozers.

Despite an ongoing trial in the Israeli high court over the legality of the placement of the Separation wall in al-Walaja, a small village just outside of Jerusalem, Israel doubled construction efforts this afternoon. Around 2pm bulldozers accompanied by armed guards started clearing trees, rocks, and shrubs. Three days ago, Israeli authorities marked the wall route with orange plastic straps which including a route which will swallow a natural spring and a Palestinian grave yard. Last August, a group of villagers, members of the Israeli nature preservation society and even settlers brought a case before the Israeli high court demanding that the route of the wall be changed. The court said that it would take time to deliberate the case and deliver a final verdict in January. The court, however, did not issue a stop work order on construction of the wall. Israeli authorities are now taking advantage of this loophole by doubling work on the construction of the wall in order to create facts on the ground.

This afternoon, villagers and international supporters walked towards the active bulldozers and tried to stop their work non-violently. They were prevented from reaching the bulldozers by armed Israeli soldiers, border police, and riot police. Despite the violent show of force, villagers argued that Israel had no right to destroy their land and cited the ongoing High Court legal case. At one point, an IDF commander recognized Professor Mazin Qumsiyeh from an earlier demonstration which took place in the summer. Qumsiyeh was standing in a group of people when he was suddenly arrested without the slightest warning or provocation. The army then started to violently push the crowd into the village, causing several villagers to fall on the rocky, uneven ground and sustain minor injuries. As the outnumbered villagers were being pushed further and further away from the construction zone, a commander suddenly ran into the crowd and randomly detained several Palestinians who – at that point – had their backs turned to the soldiers and were facing towards the village.

In total, eight Palestinians – one woman and seven men including teenagers and an elderly men, were detained. Three were handcuffed; five were bound with plastic zip ties which resulted in minor injuries due to the tightness of the plastic. Three of those detained continued to take abuse from the soldiers even after their arrest.

Background

Al-Walaja is an agrarian village of about 2,000 people, located south of Jerusalem and West of Bethlehem. Following the 1967 Occupation of the West Bank and the redrawing of the Jerusalem municipal boundaries, roughly half the village was annexed by Israel and included in the Jerusalem municipal area. The village’s residents, however did not receive Israeli residency or citizenship, and are considered illegal in their own homes.

Once completed, the path of the Wall is designed to encircle the village’s built-up area entirely, separating the residents from both Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and almost all their lands – roughly 5,000 dunams. Previously, Israeli authorities have already confiscated approximately half of the village’s lands for the building of the Har Gilo and Gilo settlements, and closed off areas to the south and west of it. The town’s inhabitants have also experienced the cutting down of fruit orchards and house demolition due to the absence of building permits in Area C.

According to a military confiscation order handed to the villagers, the path of the Wall will stretch over 4890 meters between Beit Jala and al-Wallaja, affecting 35 families, whose homes may be slated for demolition.

Beit Jala is a predominantly Christian town located 10 km south of Jerusalem, on the western side of the Hebron road, opposite Bethlehem. Once completed, the Wall will Isolate 3,200 Dunams of the town’s lands, including almost 3,000 Dunams of olive groves and the only recreational forest in the area, the Cremisan monastery and the Cremisan Cellars winery.

Adeeb Abu Rahma’s release celebrated in Bil’in

13 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement

Adeeb greeting friends and family in Bil'in

Yesterday, the 12th of December, Adeeb Abu Rahma was released after 18 months of incarceration in Ofer Military prison. Adeeb Abu Rahma, 40 years old, is a leading activist in the struggle of Bil’in. For six years, the village has been holding a weekly demonstration against the Israeli occupation, the illegal settlement of Mod’in, and the annexation wall being built through the village.

Adeeb Abu Rahma, father of nine children, was arrested July 10th in 2009 for his involvement in the weekly peaceful demonstration in Bilin. Charged with “being present in a declared military zone”, “incitement” and “activity against public order,” he was sentenced to 12 months incarceration. The sentence was extended for six extra months. Adeeb is still suspended from political activism for four years – if he breaks this condition he will be fined with 6000 NIS.

The whole village was in a state of euphoria and Adeeb’s release was celebrated enthusiastically despite the bad weather. The village organized a parade through the village up to the house of Adeeb where his friends and family were already waiting. For eighteen months not even Adeeb’s wife was able to get permission to visit him.

Adeeb’s welcome was ecstatic. He was greeted, hugged and kissed by the waiting crowd, and even some tears were shed. Adeeb was lifted by the chanting crowd and carried to his house, where he was able to see his wife and children for the first time in 18 months. In the street, people danced, unhindered by the strong wind. The ceremony continued in a tent, decorated for the occasion, where Adeeb made a speech. Soon after, the celebrating crowd dispersed, leaving Adeeb alone to spend the first night at home with his family in 18 months.

photos by Hamde Abo Rahma

Shootings in Gaza ‘buffer zone’ continue

4 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

On Saturday, the 4th of December 2010, three people were shot and injured at the northern border near to Bait Lahya. All of them sustained multiple fractures that required surgery, and two of them were hit with ‘dum-dum’ bullets, which explode on impact.

The three of them were civilians who have no other way to survive than by collecting scrap at the border.

Belal Elhsomi is 17 years old, but looks much younger. The sniper who shot him may have thought he was shooting a 14 year old boy. When we visited him, he had great difficulty speaking because he had just come out of surgery and had 6 irons sticks protruding from his leg for fixing the broken bone.

Usually Belal collects scrap, but today he was collecting wood 500 – 600 meters from the border in an area near to Beit Lahya. A dum-dum projectile, which exploded on impact, entered his right lower leg, smashing the bones inside.

“Israeli special forces entered in the area and hid there, I saw it”, witness Ata Elshomi explains to us. After Belal was shot, his friends took him by horse cart to a place where the ambulance could come, and from there he was brought to the hospital. According to Ata, after the shooting, all the 300 people who had been working in the area went away.

Belal’s father explained to us: “I am worried for my son, but there is so much unemployment, my son has to work.” Belal’s 26-year-old brother was injured 5 months ago in the same area, at the same distance from the border, so Belal was forced to take his place. The father has problems with his back and cannot work, so the work of this son is the only source of income for their 15 member family.

According to the doctor, Belal will need five months to recover before he will be able to walk again.

Mohammed Ata Elhosomi is married, has two sons, and shares his home with seven members of his family. Only two weeks ago he began collecting scrap. But on Saturday, at 9:30 in the morning, he was shot at in his leg with no warning shot by an M16, while working on his own in an area with about 300 people doing the same work.

He used to be a farm hand, but can no longer find such work in the sector because farming has decreased in Gaza. Since Mohammed was forced to give up his farming job, the only thing he can do is go to the border and collect scrap.

According to the OCHA report, about 35% of the cultivable land in Gaza lies in the ‘buffer zone’, the patch of land stretching up to 500 meters into Gaza which is a high risk area: anyone entering from 1000 – 1500 meters from the border is under a high risk of being shot at by Israeli soldiers. There are frequent incursions in the area, during which the Israeli army destroys fields so that farmers can no longer work on them.

“I don’t care if I will get injured; I just care about my family. I have to bring them food and for this I do whatever I can,” Mohammed stated.

The doctor showed us the x-ray on which we saw the fibula broken into many little pieces and explained to us that he is going into surgery because he “needs an internal fixing”.

When we entered the room where Marwan Mahmoud Murouf was lying, he was moving moving his head without opening his eyes, moaning, and clearly suffering. He had just come out of surgery and was not able to communicate. He had been hit in the higher part of his right leg. According to the doctor, it will take four months before Marwan will be able to attempt walking again, and he must undergo surgery because he needs internal fixes.

The father of his wife told us that Marwan is 26 years old, and has four children. He is the only one working in the family, and it was his first day of work as a scrap collector. Before this job, he worked in the tunnels.

Marwan’s father-in-law explained: “I used to work in Israel. The sons have to go to school and there is no work here. We go into the buffer zone as scrap collectors because there is no alternative. What else can we do?”

According to Ma’an news, another man was injured today while standing in front of his house, in an area in the east of Deir ElBalah, when Israeli forces opened fire on him. Another two workers were shot yesterday, and the day before. There has obviously been a sharp increase in causalities within and close to the buffer zone this month. The total number of civilians shot since March is 90, with 17 in the last week alone, and four today.

The siege is not only blocking the admission of building materials: in the last period the amount of incoming wheat has decreased alarmingly, and the average number of tons of animal fodder permitted from Israel into the coastal enclave per week has dropped from 16,000 tons to 2,000 in the last two periods, according with Ma’an.

It is brutal that Israel won’t leave any alternative to the people of Gaza than to work at the border, but will then shoot at them knowing they are civilians, and usually, visibly young.

Four more workers shot in Gaza buffer zone: an ordinary day in Gaza

5 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

On Tuesday, the 30th of November 2010, four different individuals were wounded by Israeli gunshots while trying to make their living in the only way they could given the desperation in Gaza’s current economy.

Ismael Sa’aed Qapeen, 31 years old, was doing his daily work collecting stones when he was shot in the foot, causing him to lose three toes. He was in the “buffer zone,” the area spreading up to 500 meters into Gaza where people are at higher risk of being shot at by the Israeli military. He collects stones there, which later are crushed to cement. This is the only way he has to live, with jobs so scarce in the disastrous economic situation of Gaza.

“I was about 200m from the fence when I was shot at, without any being given any warning shot. In the beginning I didn’t feel anything, but after a few seconds I started to feel something in my foot. Then I knew that I had been shot. I fell unconscious,” he tells. His friends carried him on a horse cart to Bait Lahya, where an ambulance picked him up and brought him to Kamal Odwan hospital. This was not his first time getting shot, but the third time. The first time was during an Israeli incursion in 2004, when he was shot near his right knee. The second time was two years ago in his hand. This time has been the hardest as the doctors have had to remove three of his toes.

He isn’t the only one in his family who has been shot while working for his livelihood. Two of his brothers have been injured before, too. The first one, Soltan, was 25 when he was shot at his head: by luck, it wasn’t serious. His other brother Mahmoud was shot during an Israeli incursion in 2004 when he was 18 years old, and injured in both of his legs.

Ismael also wasn’t the only person shot on Tuesday. Bayan Farouk Ahmad Tambor, 26 years old, works in trading potatoes. He was was on his way to the field from where he buys potatoes, unaware of an Israeli incursion in the area. At 8am, when Bayan was 600 meters from the fence, without giving any warning shot Israeli soldiers fired two bullets at him: one missed his leg, but the other smashed his shinbone. People from the area rescued him and took him to the hospital, where he received surgery.

Other members of his family have also been shot by Israeli soldiers. Two of his brothers have been injured by bullets. Adham was 21, working as a farmer harvesting potatoes, when he was shot in the knee 700 meters from the fence. His other brother, Kaled, was shot in his chest two years ago, in the same area. The wound was so serious it is miraculous he was able to survive.

The third person shot on Tuesday was Ameen Akram Abo Saweash, 22 years old. He and two of his brothers are the only men who have work to support their 14 member family. Ameen and his brothers, Emad, 14 years old, and Moamen, 13 years old work together as scrap collectors. They were 500 m away from the fence when they were shot at on Tuesday. During our interview with them, Ameen himself was not yet able to speak because of the operation he had to undergo. A friend said, “I was with him, we always work together in that area. I was only a few meters away from him when he was shot at without any warning shot. They shot him in his thigh with a dum-dum bullet. The doctors said that it’s going to take him four to six months to recover from this injury until he will be able to start walking again.”

“Isn’t that a crime?” his father interrupts. “With a dum-dum bullet!” It is a crime according to the Hague Convention of 1999, Declaration III, which prohibits the use of expanding bullets, called “dum-dum” bullets, in international warfare.

The fourth person injured on Tuesday was Gasan Abo Ryala, 21 years old. He was transmitted to Kamal Odwan hospital where he was treated for a gunshot wound in the leg, but fortunately he was able to leave the hospital soon after.

Tuesday wasn’t an exceptional day. This is an ordinary excerpt from the life of Gaza’s workers in the buffer zone: routine violations of human rights, and brutal crimes committed against Gazan civilians. Ismael, Bayan, Ameen and Gassan will be commemorated only as statistics in the bloody record of the Israeli occupation. But one of them will go on living without three toes, one with a smashed shinbone, and one will go without work for half a year until he can walk again.

“What we will do tomorrow?” one of the friends and fellow scrap collectors at Ameen’s bed laughs bitterly. “We will go back to work, of course. There is no work in this country, as you can see. There is no other option. It’s the only job that is available. If the situation changed, and I found another job, I would do that, of course. I know well how risky this job is, but right now, there is just no other option. So I will go back to work as usual tomorrow”.

International Day of Solidarity in Gaza greeted with bullets in Beit Hanoun

1 December 2010 | International Solidarity Movement, Gaza

Live bullets were fired from snipers at an Erez control tower within a metre of demonstrators on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Tuesday morning in Beit Hanoun, northern Gaza. A German activist Vera Macht was injured as she stumbled while running for cover. The Local Initiative of Beit Hanoun organized the demonstration international mural and with extra attention focusing on the growing international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel for its ongoing human rights violations of the Palestinian people. The demonstration was held in the area where 6 farmers and rock collectors, including 2 children had been shot and injured over the previous 2 days, seeing an escalation of violence against civilians from the Israeli Occupation Forces.

It was actually the United Nations General Assembly who in 1977 called for this annual observance of 29th November as the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. It was on that day, in 1947, that the Assembly adopted the resolution on the partition of Palestine resolution 181, which began the horrific trend of violent land expropriation and expulsion of the Palestinian population. Over two thirds of Gazans are UN registered refugees from this period.

Tuesday morning 30 people, amongst them 5 internationals from the International Solidarity Movement as well as Mavi Marmara survivor Ken O’Keefe and Irish Activist Cormac O’Daly, gathered in Beit Hanoun at approximately 800m from Erez Crossing. Opposite the remains of the destroyed Agricultural College, which was bombed during the war on Gaza, the demonstrators put up a wall of slogans and international and Palestinian flags to express solidarity. All demonstrators held up letters forming the slogan “Boycott Israel boycott!”, before marching down towards the Erez Wall.

They were also protesting their right to their land, much of which is now lost or out of bounds by the Israeli imposed “buffer-zone.” The buffer-zone, extended to 300 metres wide in December 2009, stretches along the entire border fence on the frontier with Israel. According to a recent UN report the violence used to restrict Palestinians from accessing their land actually covers areas up to 1500m from the border fence, meaning that over 35% of Gaza’s most agricultural land is in a high risk area causing severe losses of food production and livelihoods.

As the demonstrators neared to within 100 metres of the wall, chanting and waving flags it was clear one of the watch towers was open, evidently monitoring. The barren waste land all around was a result of the forced neglect as they marched into a place that has been made out of bounds by the threat of Israel snipers and shelling. As a soldier shouted from the tower, the group decided to walk back towards the village center. At around 500 metres from the fence, IOF snipers opened fire at them, the first few shots at head height missing many of the people on the march by a metre or less. Afterwards, another ten shots were fired.

According to Local Initiative organiser Saber Al Za’anin the day highlights the responsibility of international civil society to exert pressure to end the violent siege and occupation of Palestinian lands: “It is vital that Internationals support the Palestinian cause and make the world understand the horrific occupation and attacks Palestinians live under day in day out. The international grass roots boycotts are saying no to Israeli violence and oppression and its time that the International governing community did the same to hold Israel to account for their crimes. We painted flags of countries from around the world on a mural and demonstrated. Now its time for the world to increase the power of their demonstrations, lobbying, festivals, legal work and boycotts to finally end the conflict.”

On the violence at the borders, demonstration participant Ken O’Keefe said: “When people are shot and killed for collecting rocks so they can be crushed and turned into powder and ultimately into cement, because cement is banned under the Israeli siege, you know the so-called “easing” of the siege is a farce. The siege must be smashed into oblivion, and the only people who will make that happen are people of conscience who are willing to act.”

Released on Wednesday was a report ‘Dashed Hopes, Continuation of the Gaza Blockade’ signed by over 21 international organizations including Amnesty, Oxfam, Save the Children, Christian Aid and Medical Aid for Palestinians. It calls for international action for Israel to unconditionally lift the blockade, stating that the devastation of Palestinian life under the Israeli blockade continues unabated.

63 years before the day of the demonstration, On 29 November, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted for Resolution 181 for the partition of Palestine into two states and envisaged a Special International Regime for the City of Jerusalem. It was this plan that triggered the ongoing suffering for the Palestinians given the hugely unequal partition of the land.

According to Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe, “The injustice was as striking then as it appears now… the Jews, who owned less than six per cent of the total land area of Palestine and constituted no more than one third of the population, were handed more than half of its overall territory”

According to Pappe, from the beginning the major global institutions and power-brokers were pitted against them: “The Palestinians were at the mercy of an international organization [the United Nations] that appeared ready to ignore all the rules of international mediation, which its own charter endorsed…One does not have to be a great jurist or legal mind to predict how the international court would have ruled on forcing a solution on a country to which the majority of its people were vehemently opposed.”

Then after the resolution partition came the Nakba or ‘Catastrophe’ during which the nascent Israeli army forcibly annexed even more land. Israel controlled 78% of the land held for a prospective Israeli State, leaving behind the West Bank and Gaza. During these attacks which began in March 1948 and included massacres such as Deir Yassin village, close to 800,000 Palestinians were uprooted, 531 villages were destroyed, and eleven urban neighbourhoods emptied of their inhabitants. With the ‘slow motion ethnic cleaning’ that has ensued ever since, Israel has now settled over 60% of the 22% of historic Palestine and militarily occupies the rest. [1]

[1] Pappe, I. The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006), One World Publications, Oxford